'Broken heart syndrome' no longer a myth

July 13, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- Dying of fright or of a broken heart has long been dismissed as myth, but it’s a real phenomenon that one Northeastern physical therapy professor and researcher has observed and studied.

The phenomenon recently recognized by the medical community and named “stress cardiomyopathy,” mimics a heart attack in that the heart is unable to pump blood to the brain or to the rest of the body. But in this condition, blood flow is not blocked and the patient usually recovers with no long-term cardiac damage.

Referred to as “broken heart syndrome,” stress cardiomyopathy affects primarily women, typically elderly women following extreme emotionally stressful life events, like the death of a loved one or involvement in a car crash.

But the syndrome can also occur in younger women under intense physical stress. Larry Cahalin, a clinical professor in physical therapy at Northeastern, observed broken heart syndrome twice in a woman participating in an ultramarathon cycling event, called the “Race Across America”— a 3,000-mile, West Coast to East Coast event involving cycling as many as 22 hours a day.

Cahalin, who studies heart failure and methods physical therapists can use to help patients avoid and manage heart failure, studied ultramarathon cyclists for four years, measuring the effects of exercise on heart and pulmonary function.

One year, while following a dozen riders in the last leg of the Race Across America, he observed heart failure symptoms in a female cyclist, including marked shortness of breath and extreme leg swelling.
He recommended she go to a hospital emergency room, where she underwent medical tests and was given drugs to remove the excess fluid filling her lungs, he said.

Once treated, she was fine. But a year later, she competed in the race again, and Cahalin observed again the onset of heart failure, but with milder symptoms, he said.

Researchers have found that broken heart syndrome occurs when adrenaline overwhelms the heart in response to a life stressor, like grief, fear, extreme anger or surprise.

Broken heart syndrome is getting increasing attention from researchers and physicians. Cahalin noted that a large number of physical therapists in the United States work with patients who have heart disease, some of whom may have experienced broken heart syndrome.

“The condition is likely under-diagnosed and not completely understood,” said Cahalin. “It mimics a heart attack in that the heart becomes unable to pump blood to the brain and the rest of the body, with the possibility of life-threatening heart rhythm abnormalities.”

A new counter-flow heart pump being developed by Queensland University of Technology has the potential to revolutionise future designs of the mechanical heart. Lead researcher Associate Professor Andy Tan said the heart pump's ...

"Broken heart syndrome" is still a mystery to many in the medical community, but new data from researchers at The Miriam Hospital may shed some light on the clinical characteristics and outcomes of this relatively rare, life-threatening ...

Recommended for you

A biomedical breakthrough published today in the journal Nature reveals never-before-seen details of the human body's cellular switchboard that regulates sensory and hormonal responses. The work is based on an X-ray laser ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- The ability to remember the past and imagine the future can significantly affect a person's decisions in life. Scientists refer to the brains ability to think about the past, present, and future as ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- By implanting an electrode into the brain of a person with locked-in syndrome, scientists have demonstrated how to wirelessly transmit neural signals to a speech synthesizer. The "thought-to-speech" process ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Most people can easily tell the difference between reality and fantasy. We know that characters in novels and movies are fictitious, and we also understand that historical figures - even if we’ve never ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Humans don’t always make the most rational decisions. As studies have shown, even when logic and reasoning point in one direction, sometimes we chose the opposite route, motivated by personal bias or simply ...

0 comments

Please sign in to add a comment.
Registration is free, and takes less than a minute.
Read more

Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.